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©v®fln Setsretl: 



IN HUSBANDRY. 



BEING THE 



General Principles of Econorqlcai 

Life, with( Instructions for 

Industrial Pursuits 



BY 



JOSEPH G. JAMISON, 
Kirks ville, Mo. 




Glass ! 

Book. 

Copyright^! . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSFT. 






ewim Seerett: 



IN HUSBANDRY. 



BEING THE 




General Principles of Econorqica! 

Life, witl^ Instructions for 

Industrial Pursuits 



**C 



JOSEPH G. JAMISON, 
Kirks ville ; Mo. 



Entered According to Aet of Congress in 

the year 1895, by 

JOSEPH G. JAMISON. 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress 

at Washington. 



.5 






GONTRNTS. 

How to Destroy Insects About the Orchard 

and Garden, a 

How to Put Out Fruit Trees That Will Last a 

Generation, ..... 7 

How to Produce a Milk and Butter Herd of 

Cattle, 11 

How to Prevent Abortion in Animals, . .13 
How to Remove a Retained Afterbirth from 

Animals, 15 

How a Few Men Breed Better Animals Than 

Others, 17 

How to Grow Calves That Do Not Scoure But 

Feed Well, 20 

How to Fight the Cattle Fly. . . .22 

How to Destroy the Ground Mole or Gopher, 24 
How to Keep Eggs from One Year to Another, 26 
How to Keep Butter from One Year to Another, 28 
How to Advance the Maturing of Melons Ten 

Days ...... 30 

How to Advance the Maturing of Strawberries 

Seven Days, o2 

How to Keep the Peach Orchard Bearing, . 34 
How to Profit By the Variation of Animals. . 36 



INTRODUCTION 



z? Tp 1 HIS little volume has been prepared with 
^ the design of furnishing a deserving class 
of our people with information that is calcu- 
lated to bring to them better returns lor their 
labor. The different subjects have been com- 
mented upon to some extent, but the matter 
in each division has been reduced to as small 
space as circumstances would admit of. The 
contents of this volume is of an expensive 
character; it has been hard to get and has 
cost a great deal of both time and money, 
but the author has for several years been of 
the belief that it is better to buy the experi- 
of others than to use up the most useful part 
of our own lives trying experiments. As small 
as this* work is, the reader will find it to con- 
tain more real value than has heretofore been 
published in large and expensive volumes. 
The author feels confident that all who may 
read this book will be well satisfied with their 
venture and be proud of a courage that has 
induced them to try to gather information 
on these subjects. 



How to Destroy Insects About the 
Orchard and Garden. 



EVERY ONE who has lived fifty years 
knows that insects did not interfere with 
fruit in the newly settled parts of this coun- 
try. But at this time apples, as hardy a 
thing as they are, are apparantly eaten up 
by the worms. I will ask, why is this? When 
the reader's mind is called to the fact they 
will see the trouble at once. Fifty years 
back there was a very large scope of country 
that had no settlements, and many parts 
were thinly settled, and all sorts of fruit were 
grown with very little care. The birds werf 
as thick as the cattle-fly in latter days; as the 
country settled up and the timber was de- 
stroyed the birds had to fall back, or, I will 
say, thev had to go with the Indians, and 
have been treated much like the buffalo of 
our plains. This government has imported 
birds to some extent, but there is no use in 
trying to maintain a variety of birds in this 
country for many years to come. The people 
are too destructive and. the towns are too 



thick to accomplish anything in that way. 
Every family can maintain a flock of birds of 
their own large enough to use up all the in- 
sects about the place, and they will never 
trouble anything but insects and work only 
for the family that prepares nests for them. 
That bird is tb^ little house wren. It is said 
that one pair of them will catch and carry to 
their young in one day's time eight or ten 
hundred insects. The wren is a very prolific 
bird; they raise from two to three broods of 
young each year, and no one would think of 
injuring a wren; the cat is the only enemy 
they have and the wren will beat the cat ev- 
ery time if you will put their next-boxes up 
right. Make boxes about four by six inches, 
with a hole in them about an inch in size, 
nail them up on the sides and ends of your 
out-buildings, or where the wrens can find 
them, and j our part of the work is done. 



How to Put Out Fruit Trees That Wi!l 
Last More Than One Generation. 



"^^jT^HE growing of fruit has become a critical 
^ business, and the Amerinan people are 
very much discouraged as to the probable 
outcome. The deterioration of our orchards 
has been increasing tor several years. Farm- 
ers who were a few years ago reiving upon 
their orchards for ready money, now have in 
some instances, to buy fruit or have their 
families deprived of its use. The thinking- 
people are now looking the grounds over to 
see if they can discover the reason for this 
change. Our investigations have caused us 
to believe iha.t all of this loss of trees and 
their fruit has been brought about mostly by 
our own hands. While we may be told that 
the decaying vegetation is of a different char- 
acter now to what it was in an earlv day, it 
is equally proper for us to say if the timber 
had bten left standing, the results in that 
nartieular would be about the same. The 
reader must admit that the destruction of 
the timber and of our birds would naturally 



bring about a change of some sort. We think 
deception has also figured to some extent in 
this matte;; and to be more pointed, we will 
say that the dealers in trees have done their 
part in bringing about this destruction of 
fruit trees. The nursery business never would 
have been worth anything if the fruit busi- 
ness had been conducted in a natural way, 
and the reader will bear in mind that when 
nature is interferred with it always makes 
trouble. Dealers in fruit trees found it to 
their interest to make, to a certain extent, 
false statements in regard to the production 
of fruit. To begin with, the farmer could 
grow trees from the seed as well as any dealer 
in trees could, which is the key to the whole 
matter. And there could be no reliable deal- 
ers iu trees if produced in that way: they 
could not know what sort of fruit their trees 
might produce, and it has been to their ad- 
vantage to tell the people that fruit from the 
seed was not so good as grafted trees would 
produce; in fact, they could pointjout trees of 
a worthless character and at the sane time 
exhibit specimens of unusually good fruit 
trom grafts. This fine appearing fruit being 
Haunted before the eyes of purchasers, they 



naturally would forget how good fruit origi- 
nates, and while the dealer must admit that 
all fruits came from the seed, they always 
made it a point to inform purchasers that 
such a production as their fruit could hardly 
be produced in a lifetime from seed. To pro- 
duce trees that will last one's lifetime, they 
must be produced from the seed, and it is all 
a mistake that good fruit cannot be produced 
in that way. We very readily admit that a 
great deal of poor fruit may come from the 
seed, but it is easy to arrange for such a 
thing. Every one should know that goo * 
apples do not grow on thorn trees. We must 
plant seed from the sort of fruit that we want 
to grow, and we have about as many chances 
to get better fruit as to get worse— that is 
Nature's rule in all things. The proper way 
to grow trees is to plant seed from good spec- 
imens, in good soil, in rows about four feet 
apart, and after they start to grow well, thin 
them to from ten to fifteen inches apart, and 
cultivate well, then the second or third year 
go through and thin out again, taking out 
all the dwarfs and rough-looking trees, sav- 
ing all that are smooth and vigorous in ap- 
pearance. One with a good eye can pick a 



—10 

good tree from the appearance of its leaves 
and the manner in which its branches appear; 
in fact, one can pick a young tree that will 
produce the same fruit that the parent tree 
did; if any of them show some remarkable 
points they should always be retained and 
the bad-looking- ones destroyed. In this way 
you will get into your orchard very little 
poor fruit The small trees should be set 
where the orchard is to stand, and cultivate 
them well as long as the branches of the trees 
will admit of it, and if it is necessary to set 
the trees on ground that cannot be cultivat- 
ed, we should dig about the trees and mulch 
well with straw or coarse weeds, but in either 
case to keep away the worms we should have 
a flock of our house wrens, and a stock of 
liquid manure which we prepare by locating 
a barrel or hogshead and filling it one-third 
full of unleached horse manure and filling up 
with water. Let it stand six or eight days, 
kpeping it stirred up well; then apply about 
one gallon of the strong liquid to the trunks 
and roots of each tree twice a week after sun- 
set through the spring and up to the middle 
of the summer, putting in fresh manure as 
the liquid becomes diluted. This will keep 



the worms out and invigorate the trees. We 
want to grow the trees without their receiv- 
ing any blemishes to cause decay. If we suc- 
ceed in this we have trees, if grown from the 
seed, that will last more than one generation. 



How to Produce a Milk and Butter Herd 
of Cattle. 



EVFRY ONE who has handled milch cows 
knows that there is a wonderful differ- 
ence in their production of milk and butter, 
and it is rather well understood that for 
milking purposes it is better to save heifers 
from good milking cows. We will admit this 
to be the better course, but at the same time 
we will find but a small per cent, of heifers 
picked up in this way that will meet our ex- 
pectations. To produce a milking herd of 
cattle, we must start right. We must have a 
cow that is a good milk and butter producer, 
and is capable of conveying her qualities to 
her offspring. There are but few cows of this 
sort, but they can be found in almost any 
neighborhood, and their owners know or 
care but little for these qualities, while at the 



same time they are possessed of a cow of 
the most valuable type; for once possessed 
of a cow of this sort, we are fixed for life. We 
do not have to fool away the most useful 
part of our lives changing cows. How this 
peculiar habit originates is hard to tell, but 
we have learned enough from the human race 
to know that it first originates through the 
female, and if it is well fixed it will never run 
out, no matter what they are bred to. There 
are different degrees of power in conveying 
this habit, and if your cow is a little weak 
but sure in this matter, we must mate her 
with a male out of a cow of this sort— that 
would be the proper course with any cow. 
The female that impresses a habit like this is 
about as likely to makp the impression in a 
bull as a heifer calf. The origin of this pecul- 
iar habit is something like a strawberry on 
the child's head— it is as apt to be on a male 
as a female, and the child is always ready to 
eat strawberries, and the mother can tell you 
why it is so, though the cow cannot tell you 
about her calf. Some have it that this milk- 
ing habit started through the male, as they 
sometimes transfer it regularly, but it is for- 
gotten what he may have had for a dam. 



13- 



How to Prevent Abortion in Animals 



^tBORTION often assumes an epidemic 
^"^ character affecting- whole herds, and at 
times will include a large extent of country. 
We are told that to prevent abortion or to 
stop its progress, we must ascertain the cause 
or causes producing it, but this has been a 
difficult point for the profession to determine. 
While professional writers mention many 
causes which are supposed to produce com- 
mon or sporadic abortion, we are inclined 
to think the main cause has been overlooked. 
Abortion that assumes an epidemic charac- 
ter can almost always be traced to herds 
which have been well housed and fed concen- 
trated food. We seldom find abortion pre- 
vailing to any great extent where cattle sleep 
and eat in the open air. While stables seem 
to be almost indispensable to dairymen they 
should prepare themselves to prevent abor- 
tions in their herds b> having perfect venti- 
lation, and the next thing should be to pre- 
pare a variety of food, for there is no question 
but that confinement in a foul atmosphere 



14 — 

and being highly fed on a single concentrated 
food will in itselfproduce abortion. We think 
stock of any sort to do well and keep healthy 
should have a change of food, and if stockmen 
will feed one-half pint of hemp seed to their 
cows every fourth or fifth day through the 
winter or during pregnancy, there will be no 
abortions in that herd. This remedy has 
been used to some extent for many years, but 
not always to an advantage on account of 
the manner in which it has been adminis- 
tered. Parties who have recommended hemp 
seed in abortions have always left the im- 
pression that there was time enough to doc- 
tor after the cows get sick. We think the 
proper course would be to feed the seed before 
they get sick so that they may remain 
healthy. 



15- 



How to Remove the Afterbirth. 



/f^OWSin producing' calves, are at times 
^^unable to expel the placenta, or after- 
birth. When the afterbirth is retained any 
length of time the cow becomes feverish and 
very feeble. In such cases families have been 
deprived of the cow's milk for months. This 
can all be avoided by removing the afterbirth 
which should be done within twenty-four 
hours after parturition. Veterinarians ad- 
vise the introduction of the hand to loosen 
the confined parts. This, however, requires 
some experience to be successful in the opera- 
tion. Retention of the afterbirth seems to be 
brought about by contraction of the neck of 
the womb soon after partuition. The placen- 
ta containing a row of large lumps, it is im- 
possible for the cow to expel the substance 
after the parts contract behind them, if we 
cause the neck of the womb to dilate, the cow 
has but little trouble in discharging the sub- 
stance. We have been successful in bringing 
this about with the use of flax seed. As soon 
as we find that the afterbirth is being re- 



16 

tained, we mix between one and two ounces 
of whole flax seed with the cow's oats or 
bran twice a day until she gets relief. Whole 
flax seed, when administered in reasonable 
quantities, will always dilate the neck of the 
womb sufficiently to pass the placenta, which 
is done through a natural effort of the cow. 
After this takes place there is nothing to be 
done more than to nurse the cow for a few 
days until she regains her strength. Oil-cakes 
made from flax seed do not have the desired 
effect; it seems that extracting the oil from 
flax seed destroys this peculiar effect. 



-17 



Why a Few Parties Breed Better Ani 
mals Than Others. 



THE breeding of good animals is alwavs the 
result of knowledge or a mere accident. 
The production of live stock has now too 
much expense attached to it tu rely upon ac-, 
cidental breeding. There have always been a 
few men in this country who knew what was 
required to produce a good animal, but they 
have, when speaking ot their peculiar way of 
breeding, misled their hearers. If we expect 
to producegood animals, we must mate good 
things together, and to do this we must be 
prepared to know good things when we see 
them. To grow a tirst-class animal it has 
got to be able to digest all the food that its 
stomach will hold, and that sort of an ani- 
mal has its peculiar make-up, and its muscu- 
lar formation indicates the amount of power 
it may have in that particular. We will se- 
lect cattle as a subject in this article. It has 
been said that it is useless to try to breed 
away the faults of an old cow; if that be true, 
it would be equally hard to breed away her 



18 

good points, and her good or bad feeding 
qualities are brought about by the strength 
of her muscles. We can see the size and elas- 
ticity of the muscles at the points where they 
come together, and the most noted points 
ot meeting are the navel and rectum. It can 
be seen better in the calf— a calf with a 
large and firm navel and a rectum with such 
large and strong muscles that ridges are 
formed about its terminus. We would expect 
a calf of that sort to feed and grow well- 
makes of this sort indicate endurance. This 
sort of a cow will stand shipping to market 
with half the loss or shrinkage that the aver- 
age cow will. These marks in a breeding bull 
indicate a sure and a regular breeder; his 
calves will feed well and seldom scour or 
founder. It seems to be natural for cattle to 
throw off excrement in case of excitement or 
placed in a strange position, and those that 
have flabby muscles have no power to con- 
trol themselves in this respect which always 
terminates in a loss of flesh. We get the idea 
in using horses. We bring out a horse for a 
few hours' drive; he appears to be healthy 
and in a fine fix; as soon as he is put in mo- 
tion we get the result of his muscular power; 



19 

if his rectum, or amis is large and flabby he 
will throw off a large amount of excrement 
and in a few hours he will begin to fag and 
will very soou appear like a noise that had 
been badly treated. On the other hand if 
our horse has his muscles well concentrated 
and strong at the points before mentioned, 
his appearance after being used will be en- 
tirely different from the first horse described. 



-20- 



How to Grow Calves That do not Scour. 



MOST every cattle man has more or less 
trouble with his calves' digestive or- 
gans. It is very annoying for our calves to 
be always running off at the bowels. There 
are two reasons for this trouble— one is a 
scrofulous nature that has been inherited, 
but the most prevailing cause originates in 
the dam's milk. It is not known by every 
one that the most effective way to administer 
medicine to a suckling of any sort is to put 
it in the dam's feed. We knew a very intelli- 
gent man a few years ago to kill a whole lit- 
ter of pigs by giving the mother medicine. It 
never hurt the mother for the reason that 
she was much older than the pigs. If a calf 
has no scrofula it is not so hard to keep it 
healthy and thriving, and it is much better 
to guard the mother than the calf. We want 
to feed the cow food that is easily digested. 
If she be fed grain, it should be in small quan- 
tities, and mill-feed seems to have a worse 
effect on the calf than corn; it seems as if Na- 
ture had formed the cow's stomach for the 



21 

consumption of grass. In herds of pedigreed 
stock we often find cattle that have had their 
stomachs so impaired when small that they 
could barely take food enough to keep them 
alive. Think of stuffing the tender stomach 
of a new born calf with ccrn or any other 
concentrated food. Bear in mind that what 
we feed the cow the calf gets if it takes her 
milk. Give the calf time for its stomach to 
prepare for these things and theu they will 
not set up inflammation in the lining mem- 
brane^ of the stomach and intestines. If it is 
necessary to feed the cow to produce milk 
and butter, and the calf is inclined to scour 
bad, you may add to the mother's feed one 
tablespoonful of powdered chalk twice a day, 
which will hold it in check. 



22- 



How to Fight the Cattle-Fly, 



^TpHE little cattle-fly has become so bold 
^ within the last few years that the people 
feel worried with them. Inquiries have been 
sent out asking for relief if it could be had. 
State experiment stations have taken the 
matter into consideration and so far have 
only found temporary relief from any sub- 
stance they have tried. Parties have been 
advertising remedies as a sure and perma- 
nent thing to keep off the fly. We find their 
remedy to be tar and oil made firm with a 
harder substance, and it is very unhandy to 
apply, and but few persons ever apply it 
more than once. Tar in any form- will fright- 
en thp fly away for a while, but as soon as 
thev learn that it will not stick them fast 
they return to their work. Grease of any 
sort is disliked by these pests; they know that 
they cannot wade through it if it is very 
deep. After all the information we can get 
and the experience we have, we think the best 
and most convenient course for owners of 
stock would be to prepare a mixture of tar 



23 

and oil. lou can use any cheap oil that 
flows well, such as cotton seed or fish oil, and 
to make it more convenient we would use one 
ounce of the oil of tar to two ounces of fish 
oil. Prepare a woolen cloth filled with the 
mixture and rub down the horse or cow 
about three times a week. The mixture will 
dampen the hair and make the animal look 
»leek if rubbed properly. Horses should be 
rubbed with the mixture every time they are 
taken out; if this is done our horse does not- 
only look well, but will remain more quiet for 
the reason that he is not being troubled with 
the flies. 



■24- 



How to Destroy Moles or Gophers, 



z: Tp 1 HE ground mole costs the people a great 
^ deal of trouble as well as some loss of 
crops. There has been a general inquiry as 
to what could be done to destroy them. Two 
or three moles will work over a good-sized 
garden. The people have tried poisoning 
them without much success. Bisulphide of 
carbon is a simple agent for the destruction 
of moles. It is used by saturating a bunch 
of cotton or rags with it and introducing it 
into their runs by opening a place that has 
recently been worked up; place the saturated 
rackage well into the run and then close up 
the opening good so that the gas may not 
escape. Bisulphide of carbon is often hard 
to get and is an inflamable substance, which 
makes against its use. We can destroy the 
mole or gopher with suiphur, a remedy kept 
about almost every house. In using sulphur 
for this work you take some small tin cake- 
pans of the toy sort, open a place in a freshly 
worked run, removing the dirt carefully, and 
cut out a place in the bottom of the run that 



25 

will tit your vessel; fill the vessel with fire- 
coals, put on the sulphur, cover up the open- 
ing with a board and cover the board with 
the loose dirt to confine the smoke from the 
sulphur; and a better and a surer way is to 
have a small hand-bellows, such as have been 
kept for fire starters, insert the point of this 
bellows through the dirt near the fire, and 
blow the gases down the run and it will keep 
the fire burning as well. Do this as often as 
you find freshly made runs and your moles 
will disappear. 



26- 



How to Keep Eggs Fresh From One Year 
to Another. 



THE loss of the summer laid eggs is a draw- 
back to the poultry business. While the 
cold storage system is of some value, eggs 
have often deteriorated before they reach the 
storage-room. To put eggs away fresh in 
hot weather, we should be prepared to pack 
them each day, for they should have no time 
to shrink before they are put away. To make 
the packing satisfactory you should prepare 
a suitable vessel— an empty nail keg will do 
for eight or ten dozen. Place your vessel in 
a cuol and dry place; put in the bottom of 
the vessel about two inches of wheat bran or 
raix^d mill-stuff, get a woolen rag and a little 
hog's lard, grease the rag and rub the grease 
all over the eggs and place them on end in 
the bran, something near an inch apart and 
from the sides of the vessel; when a layer of 
them are in, ffll up with bran, making a 
thickness above the eggs of about two inches, 
then put down in the same way until the ves- 
sel is full, leaving the top for a covering two 



inches thick. Let them stand until they are 
wanted for use or market. When we want an 
egg for use we take it out without any need 
tor disar ran sing the remaining ones. When 
we want to remove the eggs from the bran 
we have a eloth and rub them over as they 
are lifted out. With this process eggs will 
keep for months if they are put in fresh and 
sound; the slightest crack in the shell will 
spoil them, and a rough or thin shelled egg 
should never be put away. 



-28- 



How to Keep Butter Fresh 



^^TpEIE making and keeping of butter in good 
^ condition any length of time is of some 
importance to nearly every family. For but- 
ter to become firm and sweet the milk should 
be well worked out of it before an v attempt 
is made to pack it awav. To keep butter in 
a small way we get a stone jar and its size 
may be regulated by the amount of butter 
that we wan" to put in it. Place the jar in a 
box, keg or barrel, as it may be, large enough 
to pack a layer of salt two inches thick all 
around the jar; put two inches of salt in the 
box to set the jar on, then pack all around 
tight with salt up to the top of the jar, hav- 
ing first placed them in a dry and cool place 
where they should remain permanently. If 
the butter is firm enough to form rolls, we 
can put them away one roll at a time if we 
choose to do so. We first put a thin layer of 
salt in the bottom of the jar; then prepare a 
cloth of suitable size, saturate it well with 
sweet lard and roll up the butter in the cloth, 
covering: the butter all over with the cloth, 



29 

put it in the jar so that it will not touch the 
sides, and pack them in the same way, side 
by side, filling in between them with salt and 
level up each time with salt? for a new layer of 
butter, and when the jar is within about four 
inches of the top, till out with salt and cover 
over the top with a board, or a greased cloth 
wouJd be better. When you want to use but- 
ter lift out one roll at a time and turn back 
the cloth far enough to cut off what yon 
want and then roll up again. Your butter 
will be good for all time if good when put 
down. If your butter be too soft to roll, you 
then grease the inside of the jar with lard and 
pack in the butter tight, putting a greased 
cloth between each batch, and when you are 
near the top, put over the greased cloth and 
on top of that put lard about one inch thick. 
This will keep good but is not so convenient 
for use. Butter can be hardened hard enough 
to roll by hauging a while in a deep well or 
set in cold water for a short time. 



•30- 



How to Advance Melons Ten Days. 



JTN many parts of several of the states the 
^ difference of ten days time in producing 
melons would be a profitable item in that 
business. In a clay soil vines of every sort 
start to grow very slowly in the early spring, 
and about the time they get to growing well 
the hot and dry season is at hand and it 
dwarfs their fruit. It has been a common 
practice to force the growth of vines with 
stale manure. While this creates some warmth 
and starts the vines to grow vigorously they 
cannot stand the dry part of the season as 
well as if they never had any manure. The 
most effective way to start vines to grow 
early in the spring; and to keep l;hem growing 
well is to use the liquid manure made from 
unleached horse manure— prepared as direct- 
ed in our second chapter. When we want to 
plant melon seed we dig a small hole where 
we want to make the hill, and fill the hole 
with this strong liquid; we draw in soil and 
have it get thoroughly wet with the liquid, 
as soon as the liquid has disappeared we 



31 

plant the seed in the wet dirt and cover the 
wet space with dry dirt. Cultivate well while 
starting to vine and use the plow as much as 
possible. Insects will be inclined to pass 
your vines until hot weather, when we spray 
the vines with the liquid once or twice a week 
—always after sundown. The liquid will keep 
away the striped bug which is so destructive 
in hot weather. After a few melons have set 
on the vines we pinch off the ends of the vines, 
but pinch none that have no melons set on. 
Viues of any sort do better when they havp 
something to hold to; if it was not to their 
advantage to hold to something they would 
nor have holders on their vines; if there is 
something for their holders to catch to the 
fruit will be larger and mature better. 



-32- 



How to Advance Strawberries Seven 
Days. 



(C^TRA WBERRIES are one of the most prof- 
^^ltable small crops that a farmer can grow. 
Some have argued that they require too much 
attention, which is quite a mistake. While it 
is true that strawberries are some trouble to 
plant out. but after that the work is not so 
hard, nor do we find them so troublesome. 
They should be planted reasonably close so 
that they will run together the first year. 
The second year, after the crop has been 
gathered, we would plow under a strip about 
five or six feet wide and leave from five to 
six fret and plow another strip until the 
Datch has been gone over, and then harrow 
the plowed part well with a fine-toothed har- 
row. The patch should be rather long to be 
convenient to work. The next year plow up 
the old strips and work it in the same way. 
The worked strips will fill up with vines each 
fall so that there is no more setting of plants, 
and the grass will not take the bed and the 
berries are larger. In growing strawberries 



33 

the season can be extended much longer by 
planting early, medium and late varieties, 
and it is useless to plant anything that is not 
reasonably hardy and good producers; in 
this way, with very slight protection through 
the winter, a strawberry bed will stand for 
years. To bring on the berries early and to 
enlarge the fruit, use freely the liquid manure 
prepared as directed in the second chapter. 
Always apply the liquid after sunset. The 
liquid should be sprinkled or sprayed on the 
plantR. Nothing will pay better than the use 
of this liquid on strawberries. It does not 
seed the bed and it invigorates the plants 
and brightens the fruit, and as a rule it will 
tide the vines over a very dry spell; it fills out 
all the fruit instead of drying it up on the 
stems. 



-34 



How to Keep the Peach Trees Bearing 



W 



HEN we think the matter over it seems 
so strange that so large a per cent, ot 
people would give up the culture of so valua- 
ble a fruit as peaches. One would think, un- 
der such circumstances, more people would 
make them a specialty . It seems that the 
winter-killing and the worms have discour- 
aged the lovers of this fruit over a large scope 
of our country. Where peach trees have been 
winter-killed, they nearly always sprout up 
from the stump anew; if one will cut the old 
tree away and thin out the sprouts to about 
three good ones and have them as far apart 
as you can, and when the sap is right bud or 
graft the sprouts with such fruit as you like, 
and you can put in different sorts of fruit so 
that apparently the same tree is ripening 
fruit ali the season. To keep the sprouts 
healthy and their fruit sound, you should use 
the liquid manure prepared as directed in our 
second chapter. Pour about one gallon of 
liquid around the roots of the trees every one 
or two weeks, aud while in bloom spray the 



35 

trees with the strong liquid. As soon as the 
weeds get large enough, cut them and put 
them about the trunks of the trees when the 
ground is not being cultivated. It is a good 
thing to let a new sprout grow every two or 
three years; in this way you are sure not to 
have them all winter-kill; however, the worms 
do the trees more harm than the winters, and 
this liquid and our little birds described in 
another part of this book, will finish the 
worms and leave your trees to furnish a val- 
uable lot of fruit. 



-36- 



How to Profit by a Variation in Animal 
Reproduction. 



z? TpHE matter of variations in reproducing 
" animals have been written upon by many 
writers, and some of them have undertaken 
to give some probable cause for such a differ- 
ence in animals reproducing themselves, but 
such things can only be an imagination; and 
it seems as far as history knows that there 
never was any species of animal that has not 
had some radical variations. The American 
deer has often been referred to as one of the 
animals that breed true to color, and at the 
shme time white deer have been seen at dif- 
ferent times. Some writers speak of it as 
something that cannot be accounted for, but 
we think it can easily be accounted for when 
we admit that these things have to be so. If 
the deer at times must change its color, what 
could we expect but a change to white rather 
than any other color, for when we look the 
animal over we find about one- third of the 
hair that makes up its coat white. It seems 
that nature has provided a law that governs 



37 

the reproduction of both vegetable and ani- 
mal life. If animals did not vary in repro- 
ducing themselves they would all be alike; 
you could not tell one from another, which 
would make the world monotonous. These 
variations have been found to run about 
equal for better and worse, larger and small- 
er, and it runs all the way through in that 
way. It seems that this is nature's way of 
holding animal life about the same without 
having it look alike. One would think if this 
is all true that breeders of live stock could 
profit but very little by these variations. The 
point in this matter is that while breeding 
we adopt some of these peculiarities to our 
own idea or to the demands of the country, 
which breeders sometimes call forming a new 
breed. If we want to iacrease the size of our 
horses, the better way is to select our breed- 
ing stock from mares that we have known 
and know their offspring, if a mare should 
have a colt from the same horse that is much 
larger than the other ones, and not bad oth- 
er ways, that is the animal we want to breed 
from to increase size, for it will always pro- 
duce larger stock than its family has been, 



38 

and if you can mate it with another that got 
its size in the same way, we get the thing 
fixed so that it will last fur all time, In this 
way we can fix any of these peculiarities that 
we wish to adopt so that they will stay and 
be reproduced for many years. This idea 
nearly always calls for inbreeding to some 
extent, and at times the first one or two 
crosses are so pleasing that the breeder gets 
excited and continues it until he spoils the 
whole thiDg. Inbreeding will fix a type in 
animals, but type fixed in that wav is not 
worth near so much as one created by mate- 
ing two sports in a similar variation from 
two original types. 



mtii- 



